JUVENTUS STADIUM

JUVENTUS ARENA built on the site on the old Stadio Delle Alpi it is the first English Style stadium in Serie A, i.e. there is no running track around the stadium and the seats are close to the pitch.

Designed by Hernando Suarez and Gino Zavanella, the stadium was built on the site of Juventus’s and Torino‘s former home, Stadio delle Alpi, and is the only club-owned football stadium in Serie A. It was opened at the start of the 2011–12 season and has a capacity of 41,000 spectators. The stands are just 7.5 m from the pitch, a major improvement from the Stadio Delle Alpi. The distance between the last row of the grand stand and the pitch is 49 m.

The first match played was a friendly against the world’s oldest professional football club Notts County on 8 September 2011 where the match ended 1-1. Veteran striker Luca Toni found the net after Fabio Quagliarella failed to convert a penalty. The first official competitive match was Juventus – Parma which was played on 11 September 2011 where Stephan Lichtsteiner scored the first goal in the new stadium on the 17th minute. On March 20th 2012, UEFA confirmed Juventus Stadium will host the 2014 UEFA Europa League Final

Juventus’s previous permanent home ground, the Stadio delle Alpi, was completed in 1990 to host matches for the 1990 World Cup. The club’s move from their previous ancestral home, the Stadio Comunale, to the Stadio Delle Alpi was controversial. The new stadium was built at great expense, was relatively less accessible, and had poor sightlines due to the athletics track. Despite Juventus being the best-supported team in Italy (with the highest television subscribers and away section attendances), attendance at the Stadio Delle Alpi was poor. Average attendance was only a third of the stadium’s 67,000 capacity. The club bought the stadium from the local council in 2003 much to the delight of their loyal fans.

Juventus moved out of the unpopular stadium in 2006 and began plans to build a more intimate and atmospheric venue. During that period, they played their matches at the for Stadio Comunale newly-renovated for the 2008 Winter Olympics and renamed Stadio Olimpico, which, whilst near the centre of Turin was also unpopular due to its low capacity of 27,000 spectators.

In November 2008, the club unveiled plans for a new 41,000-seater stadium on the site of the Stadio Delle Alpi. The new stadium, built at a cost of €120 million (£100 million), features modern facilities such as executive boxes and also houses a Juventus Museum. This is an eco friendly stadium that recycled some of the building materials of the old Stadio Delle Alpi and has won much praise for its design. It was considered Juventus’ 12th player due to the proximity of the crowds to the pitch. This and the capacity attendances has inspired several other Serie A clubs to follow suite and plan to build their own stadiums.